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| Iowa Mortgage Association - Prime Times Sep 16, 2009 In this issue: President's Message: September 2009 2009 IMA Fall Conference IMA Board of Governors Installed IMA Reg. Z Changes for Lenders Seminar IMA RESPA Seminar Way to go IMA members for raising $2700 for the IMA PAC in 2009 Two Charities Thank IMA Quad City Chapter for Generous Donation Proposed Rules and Amendments to Iowa S.A.F.E. Act Iowa Land Records System Update HUD Releases New Guidance on RESPA Revisions 2010 HOEPA Fee Threshold Announced URLA Revised TILA proposed rules published New FRB Guide For Consumers: Dealing with HELOC Freezes USDA Rural Development Update President's Message: September 2009 President's Message: September 2009  Christy Allison "If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning." ~ Frederick Douglass This is one of my favorite quotes from the 1800's and it is so appropriate today. Although we certainly can't compare the mortgage industry to the loss of freedom in Frederick Douglass's time, we can learn from him now. In this ever-changing industry, "struggle" for the true mortgage professional is a way to progress and grow in our chosen profession. We should all accept today's challenges as a way to become more experienced for our clients, business partners and trusted vendors. If you are like me, it just makes it all easier to have friends in this industry that we can commiserate with! As we continue to grow and prosper in this business I wanted to take time to thank all of our members and the IMA Board of Governors for being true professionals that made this past year as President of our organization a true joy. I have had the opportunity to meet many of you at the IMA functions and your positive reinforcement continues to inspire all of us on the Board. I would also like to thank all of the staff at the IBA which includes but is not limited to Sharon, Darcy, Bob, Allison and Amber for being so supportive of our endeavors. If you have an opportunity to serve in this wonderful organization on a committee, I hope you will not hesitate to let one of the Board Members know. We value input from each and every one of you so that we can grow your organization and continue to be known as the primary source of information in our field. I would also like to congratulate our new incoming President, Kathy Klahn from Clinton National Bank. I have known Kathy for many years and know she will do a fine job for the Iowa Mortgage Association. I'm sure she will lead the way in taking us to the next level in this ever changing industry. Best wishes, Kathy! Again, thank you all so much for this opportunity and I look forward to seeing you at future IMA events. Christy Allison, ICMP 2009 IMA Fall Conference 2009 IMA Fall Conference The IMA held its annual Fall Convention and golf outing on September 2-5 at the Marriott Hotel in Des Moines. This year's golf outing saw 75 golfers participate in an 18-hole 4-person best shot tournament at Briarwood Golf Club in Ankeny. The weather was great for golfing and everyone enjoyed the event. The evening concluded with a reception with golf prizes at the Marriott Downtown. The convention officially started the next day with a session from Francis Phillips talking about how to do business in a recession. Francis shared numerous marketing tips for loan originators and ideas for increasing business. The convention continued with breakout sessions on upcoming RESPA changes, tips for first time home buyers, and it also included updates from Fannie Mae. Also included in the day was time to browse the exhibit hall featuring nine vendors. The day concluded with the annual President's Social. The convention continued on Friday with a full breakfast and a special presentation from Liz Nead sharing how to build a rockstar network . The morning followed with a closing session from Jeff Havens. The audience was entertained by Havens' unique brand of motivational humor. The convention concluded with the grand prize drawing. Congratulations to Deb Buenting from Bankers Trust who won $500 in cash. The annual convention was a great success. Thank you to all the exhibitors and sponsors that helped make the event great! Sponsors:
 Above: IMA Board of Governors prepares for the Oath of Office directed by former IMA President David Horak and MBA President and CEO John Courson.
IMA Board of Governors Installed IMA Board of Governors Installed The following slate of Executive officers and Board of Governors were installed at the annual meeting luncheon during the 2009 IMA Annual Convention. Executive Officers:
IMA Reg. Z Changes for Lenders Seminar IMA Reg. Z Changes for Lenders SeminarNovember 4 -- 9:00 a.m. to Noon Iowa Bankers Association, Johnston This seminar is designed to help residential real estate lenders and compliance officers understand the new disclosures and timing requirements imposed by recent amendments to Reg. Z. With mandatory compliance dates effective as early as July 30, 2009, don't miss this opportunity to learn key components of these amendments, including:
Iowa Bankers Association 8800 NW 62nd Ave., Johnston IA 515-286-4300 Registration: IMA RESPA Seminar IMA RESPA SeminarNovember 18 - Johnston November 19 - Bettendorf This new full-day seminar from the Iowa Mortgage Association will provide you with the updates you on the latest RESPA changes and updates. Highlights
IMA Members $150 Nonmembers $225 See the IMA Calendar of Events for complete details and registration.Way to go IMA members for raising $2700 for the IMA PAC in 2009 Way to go IMA members for raising $2700 for the IMA PAC in 2009Thank you to all who made donations to the IMA PAC during the IMA Convention. While we still have a long ways to go to reach our goal, the Iowa Mortgage Association PAC is growing and it is thanks to your support. IMA Legislative Committee Member Steve Greig said, "It is vital our industry take an active role in the legislative process. I encourage all members to get involved in the process and also make a donation to the IMA PAC. By building a strong grassroots organization, IMA can have an active voice that will help strengthen the future of the mortgage industry." Thank you to all 2009 IMA PAC Contributors:
IMA PAC 8800 NW 62nd Avenue PO Box 6200 Johnston, IA 50131-6200 Two Charities Thank IMA Quad City Chapter for Generous Donation Two Charities Thank IMA Quad City Chapter for Generous DonationThis year's IMA Quad City Golf Outing was a huge success. The Quad City Chapter of the Iowa Mortgage Association raised $12,000 that was split equally between two local charities. The cahpter presented checks for $6,000 each to Rebuilding Together Quad Cities and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley. Both charities were very appreciative of the donations. Thank you to all the sponsors, contributors and golfers who made the event possible. The funds will help them continue their missions of outreach in our communities.Click here to read the thank you letter from Rebuilding Together Quad Cities.Click here to read the thank you letter from the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley. Proposed Rules and Amendments to Iowa S.A.F.E. Act Proposed Rules and Amendments to Iowa S.A.F.E. ActOn April 15, 2009, Gov. Culver signed a bill (Senate File 355) that brings the mortgage licensing laws of the State of Iowa into compliance with the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Lending Act of 2008 ("SAFE Act"). The SAFE Act requires all states to pass mortgage licensing laws and regulations that meet or exceed certain national standards established in the act. Iowa already had license/registration requirements for individual loan originators in our mortgage banker/broker statute, Chapter 535B, but the state decided to create a new chapter for the Iowa SAFE Act (Chapter 535D). It is important to note that the Iowa SAFE Act only applies to non-depository mortgage originators. Loan originators in a depository institution will at some point be required by their prudential regulator to register and be fingerprinted but will not be subject to continuing education or testing. Further, employees of loan companies had been exempt from the loan originator licensing requirements but this ended with the new Iowa SAFE Act. Since we have two loan company statutes and administrative rules for each, 4 chapters in the Iowa Administrative Code are affected by the Iowa SAFE Act. The following chapters were amended:
These rules and amendments were filed in August and published in the August 26, 2009, administrative bulletin with comments due by September 15. The first possible date the rules can be adopted is September 30. If they are adopted and filed by Oct. 1, they would be effective on Nov. 25 (except for chapter 18, which will be effective Jan 1, 2010.)Under the new Iowa law (Senate File 355), each individual defined as a mortgage loan originator (MLO) must meet licensing requirements that are in compliance with the SAFE Act. To comply with the new law, all MLOs must do the following:
An individual that is not a Loan Originator Registrant ("LOR") under Iowa Code Chapter 535B, must comply with the requirements above to conduct business as an MLO on or after January 1, 2010. Individuals will be able to apply through the NMLS to be a SAFE MLO after October 5, 2009. Fees to apply for the SAFE MLO license include: $50 license fee, $40 for the background check, an NMLS processing fee of $30, and a fee determined by the NMLS to obtain a credit report. Additional fees for pre-licensing tests and pre-licensing education are charged and collected outside the NMLS. SAFE MLO licenses issued prior to November 1, 2010 will need to be renewed if the licensee wishes to continue to conduct business after December 31, 2010. Individuals seeking to renew their SAFE MLO license will need to complete 8 hours of continuing education ("CE") during calendar year 2010. The CE will need to be NMLS-approved continuing education, NMLS-approved prelicensing education, or a combination of both. The CE must include 3 hours of Federal law and regulations; 2 hours of ethics that shall include instruction on fraud, consumer protection, and fair lending issues; and 2 hours of training related to lending standards for the nontraditional mortgage product market. Every SAFE MLO must be covered under a surety bond that reflects the dollar amount of loans originated on an annual basis. Companies sponsoring state-licensed SAFE MLOs must provide evidence of a surety bond meeting Iowa requirements as part of their company license. Senate File 355 requires that every company employing state-licensed MLOs must file a NMLS Mortgage Call Report through the NMLS. The NMLS Mortgage Call Report is a statement of condition on the company and its operations including financial statements and production activity volumes reported on a per state basis. Additional information concerning the NMLS Mortgage Call Report will be provided at a later date. For information and instructions regarding the Mortgage Loan Originator license requirements please visit the IDOB website at www.idob.state.ia.us. Direct questions to the IDOB's Rod Reed at (515) 281-4014.Iowa Land Records System Update Iowa Land Records System UpdateBy Phil Dunshee ILR Project Manager The Iowa Land Records web site will again make images of real estate documents available online sometime this fall. Access to document images was restricted shortly after Labor Day last year when concerns were expressed about the disclosure of private information which may be embedded within the images. During the 2009 legislative session the Iowa General Assembly approved Senate File 465, which set requirements for redaction of private information and provided funding for a comprehensive redaction project. Effective July 1, 2009, recording fees were increased by $2.00 per document to redact private information from document images and to make other changes to restore public access to the information. Images of recently recorded documents may be available as soon as November 2009. Iowa Land Records administrators are making system updates now, and the redaction process is expected to begin sometime in October. Initially, the redaction process will be applied to current or recently recorded documents. Archived documents from prior years will be redacted and posted in batches throughout 2010. Registered users will receive an e-mail notification when images are again available. To register visit the ILR website at iowalandrecords.org and select the "Become a registered user" link.In other news, the ILR E-Submission service has grown as customer acceptance of electronic recording continues to increase. Electronic submissions during the first seven months of 2009 are more than double over the same period in 2008. During the 2008 calendar year, the average monthly number of documents electronically recorded was 2,157. The average monthly number of electronically recorded documents so far in 2009 is 5,912. If current trends continue, more than 11% of the documents recorded in Iowa will be electronically submitted in 2009. HUD Releases New Guidance on RESPA Revisions HUD Releases New Guidance on RESPA RevisionsThe Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released its long-awaited guidance on the RESPA revisions. The guidance comes in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQ) and is meant to supplement the RESPA amendments published in final format in November 2008. The 16-page document includes 80 questions and answers related to the new Good Faith Estimate (GFE) format, completion and delivery requirements, required provider disclosure, changes in circumstance permitting a revised GFE, construction loans GFEs, curing GFE fee tolerance errors, HUD format, completion and delivery requirements and more. A small sample of the FAQ is detailed below. Q: If a GFE is issued on the old form prior to January 1, 2010, and the loan will close after January 1, 2010, which HUD-1 form is to be completed by the settlement agent? Q: If the borrower is taking out two loans to finance the purchase, how should the loan originator disclose the charges from each loan on the GFE and the HUD-1? Q: If there is a “changed circumstance,” when does the loan originator issue a new GFE? Q: Where does the loan originator put the lender‘s processing fee on the GFE? Q: If there is an inadvertent or technical error on the HUD-1, is this considered a violation of Section 4 of RESPA? Q: Who is responsible for any tolerance violation? HUD’s FAQ can be found in its entirety on the IBA’s web site FAQ located at /aspx/iba/faq.aspx. The final rule amending Reg. X can be found in the November 17, 2008 Federal Register at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-27070.pdf.2010 HOEPA Fee Threshold Announced 2010 HOEPA Fee Threshold AnnouncedThe Federal Reserve has announced its annual adjustment of the dollar amount of fees that trigger additional disclosure requirements under the Truth in Lending Act for home mortgage loans that bear rates or fees above a certain amount. The new dollar amount of the fee-based trigger is $579, effective January 1, 2010, and is actually lower than the 2009 threshold of $583. The adjustment does not affect the rules, adopted in July 2008, for “higher-priced mortgage loans.” Those rules use a different rate-based trigger. The Federal Reserve announcement can be found at http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/bcreg20090810a1.pdf. URLA Revised URLA RevisedThe Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) was revised by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to address the new Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) loan-level origination data requirements. The revisions include text and space for the Loan Originator ID and Loan Origination Company ID, which a loan originator must complete. The agencies have also made a minor change to the top of the first page by moving the joint credit signatures from the right to under the top paragraph. The revised URLA must be used for all new applications for loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after January 1, 2010 but may be used prior to this date. The revised URLA can be found at https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/formsdocs/forms/pdf/sellingtrans/1003rev.pdfTILA proposed rules published TILA proposed rules publishedOn August 26, the Federal Register published the Federal Reserve Board's proposed rule to comprehensively amend Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). The proposal has two components, one dealing with closed end credit and the other with open-end home-secured credit, or home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs). The closed-end revisions can be found at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-18119.pdf. The HELOC revisions can be found at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-18121.pdf.Comments to these proposals must be received on or before Dec. 24, 2009. ABA will be assembling committees and working groups to analyze and respond to these proposed regulations. New FRB Guide For Consumers: Dealing with HELOC Freezes New FRB Guide For Consumers: Dealing with HELOC FreezesThe Federal Reserve has released “5 Tips for Dealing with a Home Equity Line Freeze or Reduction,” a consumer guide explaining consumers’ rights and lenders’ responsibilities related to reduced credit lines. The guide can be downloaded at http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/heloctips/heloctips.pdf. USDA Rural Development Update USDA Rural Development Expects up to $2 Billion Fiscal-Year Carryover in Single Family Guaranteed Home Loan Program New Fiscal Year Starts October 1USDA Rural Development has had an extremely busy year providing lenders with $206 million in loan guarantees to assist 2,284 rural Iowans purchase homes. Thanks to additional funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), USDA Rural Development expects that nationwide up to $2 billion in funds for guaranteed home loans from this fiscal year (which ends September 30, 2009) will carryover into fiscal year 2010. While this funding will not be available for the first two to three weeks of the new fiscal year, USDA Rural Development is considering issuing conditional commitments that are subject to funding as has been done in previous years. A final decision on this will be made soon. Participating lenders will be notified via email in the next couple weeks. To begin receiving regular newsletters and notifications from USDA Rural Development in Iowa please send an e-mail to Linda.Rhoades@ia.usda.gov. To join the national list service, please signup at http://www.rdlist.sc.egov.usda.gov/listserv/mainservlet.Please contact your local USDA Rural Development area office for more information about any of the agency's programs. Feel free to call the state office at (515) 284-4666 or visit www.rurdev.usda.gov/ia if you are unsure of the area office serving your community.
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